Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Forestry Services provides forest health protection assistance to state and private land managers within the State.  The State and the USDA Forest Service Forest Health Protection unit fund this program cooperatively.

Oklahoma Forest Facts

Over 20% of the State of Oklahoma is forested (about 10 million acres).  

  Over 90% of forested acreage in Oklahoma is privately owned. Small landowners comprise the largest group.

The Ouachita National Forest 300,000 acres provides recreational and wildlife benefits as well as timber products and jobs for hundreds of people.

Major insect and disease outbreaks have been infrequent within the forested areas of eastern Oklahoma.

While the southern pine beetle (SPB) occasionally causes problems, only minor activity was present in 1998. However, due to the stress created by drought and excessive heat in 1998 - 1999, pine engraver beetle populations increased greatly on southern pines.  Many single trees and multiple-tree spots occurred in McCurtain and Pushmataha counties.  An estimated 22,000 trees were killed over a 1.7 million acre area, representing about 203,000 cubic feet of wood volume.

Weather (drought and excessive heat) severely impacted Oklahoma’s forests and tree plantings in 1998 - 1999.  Many trees showed silt and scorch symptoms as well as much defoliation.  The extent of dieback and mortality will not be fully known until the 2000 growing season.

Gypsy moth trapping is routinely carried out in order to detect new infestations of this exotic pest. Trapping in 1999 yielded no catches.

The Oklahoma Forestry Services and
USDA Forest Service

In spite of the relatively good health of Oklahoma’s forests, a variety of insects and diseases (both native and introduced), and human-caused impacts such as air pollution, continue to threaten the State’s resources.  To deal with this constantly changing mix of challenges, the Forestry Services and the Forest Health Protection unit of the USDA Forest Service cooperate to prevent, detect, suppress and manage this multitude of threats.  The partnership between the two agencies has worked for three decades to maintain and improve the health of Oklahoma’s forests. 

Forest Health Protection’s contributions (dollars) to the Oklahoma Forestry Services’ Cooperative Forest Health Program, 1997-2000.

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